Barcelona images: Daily photographs of Barcelona, Spain. Pictures of a modern city, combined with personal style. A photography and travel site. Art, architecture, people and traditions. Travel to Barcelona through my camera, know more about our city and towns nearby. Welcome!

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Saturday, October 11, 2008

Monge, Philately and Numismatic Store, Barri Gotic, Barcelona

If you ever collected postage stamps then this image will bring back some memories. Come to think of it, stamps are just stamps, a tiny jagged sticky-on-one-side piece of paper but this obsession for antique or rare "pieces of paper" is more than a hobby for many people. I remember well how I used to collect them when I was a child. I had this album that had the black and white image of the future stamp you were suppose to find and stick in place after buying or trading with other collectors. I had some rare stamps of China which were a real beauty, generally with socialist allegories on them and other stamp collections organized by countries. I also had reproductions of the first stamp, the Penny Black issued on May 06 1840, as the one you see engraved on the glass of this remarkable epoch philately and numismatic store (A. Monge, carrer Boters, 2) at the Gothic quarter of Barcelona. But why did they create stamps after all? Postage used to be paid upon delivery and it happened that many letters were rejected by the addressees so a pre-paid delivery system was imposed in 1837 in which the stamp became the proof of payment.

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Barcelona pictures there are many, commented Barcelona photos there are few. I intend to provide not just images but information about the daily life of the city and aspects of artistic expression such as Barcelona sculpture, Barcelona architecture, Barcelona street art, Art Nouveau...

Barcelona is not a town you want to leave. From the capital of Catalonia you can make a number of one day trips for example to Costa Brava or you can climb the Muntanya de Montserrat.

If you're looking for some entertainment, you can either go to the Salou amusement park, 100 kilometres away from Barcelona or to the town of Sitges, only 40 kilometres away and famous for its film festival and the carnival.